SHENSTONE PARISH COUNCIL
Serving Little Aston, Shenstone, Stonnall, Shenstone Wood End, Lynn, Parish Council Office 25C Main Street Shenstone WS14 OLZ
Tel: 01543 481 947
e-mail: <admin@shenstone-staffs.gov.uk >
web: www.shenstone-staffs.gov.uk
APPROVED MINUTES OF FULL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY OCT 8th at 7.15 SHENSTONE VILLAGE HALL
49.Register of members in attendance.
Cllrs David Salter (Chairman), Sheila Beilby, Val Neale, Gail Nicholls, Nicola Macdonald, Mike Cox, Kelly Harrison , Nick Smith, Stuart Jones, Lesley Edgley, Darryl Godden, John Branch ( from 8.00pm)
Shirley O’Mara (Clerk)..
Member of the public: Mr Ian Swinton
50. Acceptance of apologies.
Cllr Nicki Gobran, Cllr David Thompson, Cllr Neil Perry, District Cllr Elizabeth Little & County Cllr David Smith.
Mr Ian Swinton.
51.Public Participation. Members of the Public are invited to address Council for a maximum of 15 minutes.
None.
52. Declarations of interest .Members should consider whether they should partake in any discussion or vote on matters on the agenda unless they have a dispensation.
None.
53.To accept and confirm minutes of the last Full Council meeting on Tuesday Sept 10th 2019.
Accepted and confirmed.
54.Clerks report on outstanding matters from minutes Sept 10th 2019.
Creative Plants are donating a tree to replace the diseased Birch which had to be removed in St John’s cemetery.
The .gov email addresses are now set up & active.
The new noticeboards are being erected across the Parish starting the end of this week/early next week.
55.To receive reports from District and County Councillors.
Cllr Salter asked Councillors to look at the consultation into polling stations raising any concerns re locations and/or usability. www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/pollingstationsreview
The future of Friary Grange has been secured with a £700K for renovation and repairs to the existing facility. £5m will be sought to replace in about 5 years.
56. Finance: Transactions for approval & financial position as at 8th October 2019
Nat West Current Account- £935.00. Nat West Reserve Account £123,194.06
Nat West Liquidity Account £161039.53 Unity Account £48,196.69
Transaction details from September & October were shared (attached).
In preparation for the Finance Committee meeting on Tues Oct 29th at 5.30 Council are asked to come with ideas for their specific wards. Location of the meeting to be confirmed.
56. Planning applications
Approve planning applications received in last month and update on any objections/ developments.
Objections have been submitted re application 19/01303 Ashcroft Lane on the grounds of over intensification and 19/01221 Sabaar Lodge, Birmingham Rd as it would set a volume and scale precedent in a neighbourhood plan area. The Clerk briefed the Committee on the impact of paid parking charges at Shenstone Station- a significant increase in cars parking in Admiral Parker Drive, Richard Cooper Rd, New Rd & Holm View Close. The car park is now only 25% full whilst roads nearby have inconsiderate & often illegally parked vehicles blocking driveways and junctions. A report has been sent to Staffs Highways who have responded that the second planned consultation will take place but County Cllr David Smith shares the view that this has been delayed too long. A resident’s petition has been compiled and will be presented by Cllr David Smith to Staffs Highways Full Council on Thursday.
An article in the Lichfield Mercury (attached) last week gave an inaccurate interpretation of the consultation map which has already been shared with residents. Council have responded with a letter to the Mercury to address these inaccuracies and it has also gone to residents of Main Street who were mentioned in the article as being affected when they are not.
Mr Iain Swinton, a resident of New Rd, asked if Council have engaged with the owners of the business park re parking opportunities as the use of public transport should be encouraged.
Cllr Salter confirmed this avenue has been looked into but with no success. Cll Edgley stated that parking capacity needs to be looked at on the business park and confirmed that she has been approached five times in the last day or two re the problems caused in the village.
Cllr Godden raised the issue of Police enforcement rather than just a PCSO presence in the area so that the illegal & dangerous parking can be addressed. The Clerk will investigate.
Next Neighbourhood Planning & Property Committee Meeting Tuesday November 26th 2019.
57. Stonnall Youth & Community Centre – consider offer for transfer of ownership for £1.00
No update from Staffs County Council – deferred to November meeting.
58. Little Aston Recreation Ground Lease- update
The Clerk has shared feedback from Moseleys Solicitors with regard to the Little Aston Recreation Ground lease proposal and the questions raised. On analysis of the Land Registry documentation it is clear that restrictions have been added to the documents in 2013 referring to the Charities Act. These are errors.
It is not known how these mistakes were made but there can be no movement on a lease until corrected, and in deed they must be corrected regardless. Moseleys have advised that they will look into it but it is by no means certain that the Land Registry will oblige.
All other points raised will be discussed once this fundamental matter is resolved. The length of any lease was briefly discussed with Cllr Salter saying it needs to be twenty years minimum but there was acknowledgement that all discussions re longevity and everything else needs to be thoroughly discussed and agreed later.
59. Request for new bus timetable noticeboard in Stonnall
No longer relevant.
60. Demonstration of Westcotec’s ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) system- invitation from County Cllr David Smith.
An invitation to view the ANPR was shared with Council. Cllrs Salter, Cox & Nicholls will attend. A discussion re the effectiveness of ANP’s followed with Cllr Nicholls clear in her view that they are highly ineffective and a waste of funds. Cllr Godden stated that the only really effective measures are vehicle number plate recognition cameras – a view supported by Cllr Branch.
Cllr Salter agreed but said these cameras are prohibitively expensive.
61. Dates of 2020 Sub Committee Meetings.
There was a discussion re re-scheduling some of the Committee meetings in 2020 to give more of a gap between council meetings & Committees but it was agreed to leave in place for now & address nearer the time.
62. Date of next meeting:
Tuesday 12th November Stonnall Youth & Community Centre. 7.15pm.
